This invention relates to a vegetable steamer arrangement and in particular to a device to enable two or more of these steamers to be stacked one above another during cooking.
Vegetable steamers are well known and these enable vegetables, and often other types of food such as fish or meat, to be cooked in the steam of a cooking pot rather than by immersing the food in a boiling liquid. Such steamers generally comprise a perforated base and a number of perforated interleaved hinged leaves surrounding the base which can be opened to gain access to the food and folded over to enclose the food during cooking. The steamers can be made of a metal like stainless steel, or of plastics material as for example shown in United Kingdom Design Registration No. 1 048 465.
Generally only one such vegetable steamer is placed in a cooking pot and the vegetable steamer usually has feet or the like to enable it to stand on the base of the pot slightly above boiling water so that the food is cooked purely by being subject to the steam. It is an object to the present invention, however, to provide an arrangement whereby two or more such vegetable steamers can be safely and conveniently stacked one upon the other during cooking.
According to the invention in one aspect there is provided a combination of a support device and a first and second vegetable steamer, wherein the support device enables one vegetable steamer to be stacked upon another. The support device comprises a pillar having at one end a support for the base of an upper steamer and, at its other end, a means to attach the pillar to a lower steamer, so that the pillar is upstanding from the base of the second steamer and extends from the second vegetable steamer to support the first vegetable steamer above the second and wherein the pillar is of adjustable length.
Such an arrangement is very simple and the support device can be made of synthetic plastics material so that two or more synthetic plastics material steamers can be supported one above the other in a microwave oven if desired as an alternative to being supported in a cooking pot.
Also according to the invention in another aspect there is provided the combination of a pair of vegetable steamers together with a support device, the support device comprising a pillar having at one end a support for the base of an upper vegetable steamer and, at its other end, means to attach it to a lower vegetable steamer so that the pillar is upstanding from the base of that lower vegetable steamer, the said one end thus extending above the lower vegetable steamer to support the upper vegetable steamer above the lower and wherein the first end of the pillar has screw threaded means and the upper vegetable steamer has a screw threaded spigot, receivable by the screw threaded means of the upper vegetable steamer to attach the pillar thereto. The second end of the pillar has a screw threaded spigot and the base of the second vegetable steamer is equipped with a corresponding screw threaded opening for engagement with the spigot of the pillar.
Also according to the invention in another aspect there is provided a combination of a support device and an upper and lower vegetable steamer, each steamer having a base. The support device comprises a pillar having a first and a second end, a support for the base of the upper vegetable steamer at one end of the pillar and means to attach the support device to the lower vegetable steamer being provided at the other end of the pillar so that the pillar is upstanding from the base of the lower vegetable steamer, and extends from the lower steamer to support the upper vegetable steamer above the lower one. The end of the pillar that supports the upper vegetable steamer is shaped to provide a platform to support the base of the upper vegetable steamer.
Another aspect of the invention provides for a combination of a support device and an upper and lower vegetable steamer. The support device encompasses a pillar which extends from the lower vegetable steamer to support the upper vegetable steamer by attaching to the base of the upper steamer. The support device further comprises releasable engagement means for connecting the upper vegetable steamer to the pillar of the support device.
It is preferred that the pillar be of adjustable length. In a simple embodiment this can be achieved by providing the pillar in two parts, one of which has an external screw threading and the other of which is hollow and has an internal screw threading to receive the external screw threading on the first part, so that the length of the pillar can be adjusted by telescoping one part into or out of the other. To ensure that the two screw threading engage over a sufficient length to provide stability, it is preferred that stop means be provided to limit the extent by which they can be unscrewed relative one another. These stop means can comprise an outward projection on the part having the external screw threading and a corresponding inward projecting on the other part which come into engagement to limit and block further unscrewing of the two parts relative one another.
Usually vegetable steamers are provided with a removable central pillar with a form of handle at the top which can be temporarily screwed into the base to enable the vegetable steamer to be picked up and placed into a cooking pot. Such a pillar usually consists of a metal or synthetic plastics material rod having at its lower end a screw threaded spigot which can be temporarily screwed into a threaded opening in the base. According to an advantageous embodiment of the invention therefore this screw threaded spigot is used to attach the support device used according to the invention and the said other or lower end of the pillar has a screw threaded spigot which can be temporarily fixed into the screw threaded opening in the base of the lower vegetable steamer.
The said one or upper end of the pillar forming the support device is preferably shaped to provide a platform on which the base of an upper vegetable steamer can rest and to this end it can be mushroom-shaped with a flat top on which the base of upper vegetable steamer can sit and be supported. To help centre the upper vegetable steamer, that upper flat top can have a central depression in which a central downward projection from the base of the upper vegetable steamer can fit. Such a projection is normally present and houses the screw threaded opening.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention an upper handle member is joined through the centre of the base of the upper steamer to the top of the pillar to secure the upper steamer in place. In addition the upper handle member can be used to lift the combined assembly of the two steamers and the support device to place it into or remove it from a cooking pot.